Éric Le Sage & Théo Fouchenneret
Biography Éric Le Sage & Théo Fouchenneret
Éric Le Sage
is established as the representative of the French piano school, regularly boasted for his very subtle sound, his real sense of structure and poetic phrasing. Already when he was 20 years old, the Financial Times had described him as “an extremely cultivated disciple of the great French tradition of Schumann piano”. In 2010, die Zeit, praised his “ideal French piano aesthetics and clarity”
Eric is invited to perform as a soloist with orchestras at the highest level such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Saint-Louis Symphony Orchestra, Berlin’s Konzerthaus Orchester, SWR Symphony Orchestra, Bremer Philharmoniker, Dresden Philharmonie, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Göteborg Symphony Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony, Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra, Münchner Kammer Orchester, Dresdner Philharmonie, Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, with conductors like Edo de Waart, Stéphane Denève, Pablo Gonzalez, Fabien Gabel, Sir Jeffrey Tate, François Leleux, Alexander Liebreich, Kazuki Yamada, Alondra de la Parra, Lionel Bringuier, François Leleux, Michael Stern, Leonardo Garcia Alarcon, Sir Simon Rattle and Yannick Nézet-Seguin.
Eric has performed recitals and chamber music concerts in major venues across the world such as Wigmore Hall, Suntory Hall, Carnegie Hall, Hamburg’s Laeiszhalle, Paris Philharmonie, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Radio France, Cologne Philharmonie, Essen Philharmonie, Dresden Philharmonie, Frankfurt’s Alte Oper, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Schwartzenberg’s Schubertiade, Salzburg Mozarteum, Ludwigsburg Festival, Prague’s Rudolfinium, Taipei National Concert Hall, Konzerthaus Vienna, Dublin’s celebrity series, Edinburgh International Festival, Düsseldorf Tonhalle, la Roque d’Anthéron Festival, Potsdam Sanssouci, Brussels’ Bozar, Berlin’s Boulezsaal, Konzerthaus Berlin, Berlin Philharmonie.
In 2010 Eric Le Sage released Robert Schumann’s complete works for piano for the composer’s 200th anniversary. He has been invited to perform in this context in major venues around the world. These recordings for the French label Alpha (Outhere) were awarded in the summer 2010 the very prestigious Jahrespreis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik. Reviewers from the world over have written elated comments about what is already cited as a reference in the history of Schumann recordings. Following this successful project, Eric Le Sage recorded later a bundle of 5 CDs dedicated to Gabriel Fauré’s complete works for chamber music with piano, all covered with awards.
In 2018 he started recording Brahms ’complete chamber music for B Records. The cycle’s 9 th volume was released in May 2021 In 2019 he released Fauré’s Nocturnes on Alpha, as well as Schumann’s Dichterliebe with tenor Julian Pregardien. Both albums won international critical acclaim.
In 2020 and 2021 Eric also released two chamber music albums on Alpha: Vienne 1900 featuring works by Schoenberg, Mahler, Zemlinsky, and Berg, and Nino Rota with Emmanuel Pahud, Paul Meyer, Daishin Kashimoto, Aurélien Pascal and more.
A true chamber music lover, Eric regularly plays with friends like Emmanuel Pahud, Paul Meyer, Quatuor Ebène, François Leleux, les Vents Français, François Salque, Lise Berthaud, Daishin Kashimoto, Olivier Latry and many other musicians.
Most of Eric Le Sage’s recordings on RCA-BMG, Naïve, EMI and now Alpha were highly acclaimed and awarded the most sought after awards in France: Diapason d’Or de l’Année, Choc de l’Année Classica, Choc du Monde de la Musique, Grand Prix du Disque, Recording of the Month in Fono Forum and Gramophone, Victoire de la Musique.
Born in Aix en Provence, Eric Le Sage was the winner of major international competitions such as Porto in 1985 and the Robert Schumann competition in Zwickau, in 1989. He was also a prize-winner at Leeds International competition the same year, which allowed him to perform under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle.
Théo Fouchenneret
Born in Nice, Théo Fouchenneret started studying piano in his hometown with Christine Gastaud. At thirteen years old, he entered the CNSM in Paris, first in the class of Alain Planès, then with Hortense Cartier-Bresson, with whom he continued his studies during the 3rd cycle. He also studied chamber music with Jean-Frédéric Neuburger and Yann Ollivo, and received the advice of many renowned professors. Théo Fouchenneret won the Gabriel Fauré Prize in 2013. An adept of chamber music, he founded the Ensemble Messiaen, with which he won 1st Prize at the Lyon Competition. He currently leads an active career as chamber musician and soloist, regularly performing with renowned musicians at festivals in France and in Switzerland, as well as in Lebanon, China and Japan.
